Palmetto principal cleared of knowledge of allegations

Wednesday

May 22, 2013 at 10:58 PM

Parent was adamant she spoke to Willie Clark about alleged sexual assault by another student

By KATY BERGEN

Palmetto High School Principal Willie Clark has been cleared of allegations that he knew of an alleged sexual assault between two students and did not report it to law enforcement or district officials.

Private investigator Carol Springer, hired by the district to review the case in the wake of a similar non-reporting case at Manatee High School, found that three other employees — but not Clark — had been informed this fall by a parent that her special needs daughter may have been sexually assaulted by a classmate in April 2012.

Those three employees were cleared of any legal or school policy violations as well because the parent had “expressed uncertainty” as to what had happened and reporting laws do not apply to allegations not involving child abuse.

It was unclear Wednesday why so much of the investigation focused on whether school employees did not report child abuse when the incident reported involved an alleged sexual assault between two minors of similar ages. According to the investigation report, an obligation to report crimes between students does not exist for school employees.

The investigation began in March, when the mother of the alleged victim and a parent advocate met with interim Superintendent David Gayler and other administrators about a slew of complaints — including bullying, ADA violations and how a disciplinary issue involving the student at Palmetto High School was handled.

At the meeting, the mother told administrators about a call she received from a Palmetto High employee in September saying that her daughter had verbally accused another student of rape in school and needed to stop or her claims would be consider bullying. The mother says she informed that person at the time that something had probably happened between the students.

The mother was adamant she spoke to Clark. The school district says she spoke instead to a parent liaison.

“In light of that misidentification, Principal Clark has been completely cleared of the allegation of failure to report reasonably suspected child abuse,” the report reads.

Clark could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

The parental advocate present at the meeting said the complaint — one of several made at that meeting — was not about child abuse, but administrators reporting an alleged sexual assault. She said Wednesday that the numerous other issues presented to the administration have yet to be addressed.

In addition to the parent liaison, whom she thought was Clark, the mother had spoken to a guidance counselor and teacher about the incident, which her daughter told her happened in April 2012 off school property after school. The mother said she learned of it months later.

The mother did not call law enforcement at that time, as she feared a “he said, she said” situation, but took her daughter to a doctor.

Police became involved in December, when the mother met with a different district level administrator about a disciplinary issue involving her daughter and mentioned the alleged sexual assault. That administrator called the Florida Child Abuse Registry, and police got involved.

An investigation of the alleged rape closed in February. No one was charged.

Though school employees were cleared of any wrongdoing in their handling of the incident, the report highlights what appears to be a lack of clear policies or procedures on how to document such inquiries.

No notes were taken by the parent liaison or guidance counselor during meetings with the mother. There is no documentation of the phone call to the parent, or who made it. Those involved in the investigation were asked this March to draft notes from recollection regarding conversations that happened in September.

And several employees were unaware or ill-informed of child abuse reporting laws, which all employees are supposed to be trained on. One employee said she believed the procedure changed every time the principal changed. Another said she should “pass it off” to someone in the guidance department more capable to handle the situation than she.